‘Music in animation is like a story within a story. It can intensify emotion, accentuate action
and give a sense of completion to the total narrative’ (Richard E. Williams)
The post-production process was the final stage in the creation of our animation, where everyone’s individual segments were combined into one, and music which had been carefully selected to enhance the storytelling, reflect the mood, and mirror the era from which the animation took its inspiration, was added.
After learning the hard way last semester in my Animation Studio module that timing is so important in animation that it’s almost impossible to go back to try to fit the visuals to a piece of music, and the module handbook reminding us that animation is a radio play with pictures, and we should think early on about how sound would balance the pace of our project, and impact the appeal and emotion of our work, I was eager for this decision to be made early on during the pre-production process. However, the consensus of opinion was that we should wait until the animating process had concluded, and the individual segments brought together, before making this decision.
Therefore, as the project neared completion, and I’d a better idea of how the final animation would play, I volunteered to complete the post-production stage, and began searching online for soundtracks that would compliment the rubber hose theme. I must have listened to hundreds of 1920’s and 1930’s tracks in compilations posted on YouTube, before I came across The Virginians’ ‘Nothing Could be Sweeter,’ and visualising the camera panning up to the sky, the initial characters coming into shot, and a part of the track in almost the perfect place to reflect the despondency of the sun and star, I knew it was the one.
Nonetheless, as it was a team project, although this was by far my favourite, I also searched for suitable tracks on Pixabay, and after hearing it on ‘Fallout,’ included an instrumental version of the Ink Spots’ ‘Maybe,’ before posting a short-list on Discord for the team to make a collective decision.
Vintage Piano
The Ink Spots, ‘Maybe’
Comedian
The Virginians, ‘Nothing Could be Sweeter’
Thankfully, and much to my relief, the team also preferred The Virginian’s track, but as they disliked the cracking on the 1920’s recording, the version used in our final animation needed to be sourced elsewhere, and the audio track separated from a video recording.
After editing everyone’s rendered segments together, with the timing of the character’s actions already predetermined, the only option available was to modify the playback speed of each segment by varying degrees, to extend their duration, and ensure as best possible, that the music coincided with the on-screen imagery, and accentuated the action. However, that said, once added and similarly paced to our animation, both I and the team loved the overall mood, energy and appeal the track brought to the project.
Finally, when rendered in black and white, our animation was complete, and given that this was our very first attempt at a group 3D project, I believe we’ve created an engaging and entertaining short. I hope you do too.
Final Group Animation:
References:
Williams, R.E. (2009). The Animator’s Survival Kit. USA: Faber And Faber.